Navy loses control of UAV near Washington, DC; “software issues” cited for loss of control:
This is very unsettling and scary as hell for many reasons and I’ll list just the top two concerns: (1) Personally, I work in Washington, DC. (2). It was flying around for almost half-hour without any supervision.
The situation could get really worse if someone hacked into the system and took control over the craft (in real life when this beast comes armed with some missiles) while it is in flight.. Technology is good until it starts malfunctioning!
The charmingly named, 31-foot-long MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing unmanned aerial vehicle was flying at an altitude of 2,000 feet on August 2 when the Navy completely lost control of the craft due to, they say, a “software issue.” It continued, guided only by its own probably-evil robot brain, for about half an hour, flying 23 miles into restricted airspace. The Navy re-established control when the drone was just 40 miles from the nation’s capital.
